The present invention relates to a disk array device (also called a storage system), and in particular, to a technique for cooling HDD (hard disk drive) and others to be installed in a housing.
As processing in a disk array device increases, it is essential to efficiently carry out cooling against the heat generated from each section inside the device including HDD. For the cooling means, a fan is installed in the disk array device, and the wind for air cooling (cooling air) is circulated to each component including HDDs inside the equipment by the fan operation.
In addition, in a disk array device in which a plurality of HDDs can be mounted, there occur an HDD mounted section (hereinafter, “HDD mounted section”) and an HDD unmounted section (hereinafter, “HDD unmounted section”), and they cause variation of the flow rate (volume) or a flow velocity of the cooling air between the airflow routes that correspond to each section. With respect to air cooling by the fan, in the currently mainstream system, by mounting a dummy HDD which is a part of the shape same as HDA into the HDD unmounted section, the volume of cooling air in the vent passage of the HDD unmounted section is limited and the volume of cooling air in the vent passage of the HDD mounted section is secured. By this, drop of the cooling efficiency is prevented.
Japanese patent Laid-open No. 11-145658 discloses a technique for using dummy HDD.